Continue with understanding complex systemic responses to global change pressures
Session Objective
Global change impacts Earth’s systems
Many of Earth’s system’s interact at the ecosystem level
Ecosystem =
A change in just one biotic or abiotic factor can alter complex relationships and have large scale consequences
In ecosystems, abiotic and biotic processes interact
Ecosystems (and higher levels) are regulated by the flow of energy and the cycling of nutrients
Life is composed of energy and matter, which is always on the move
- Energy from the sun powers communities, ecosystems, biomes, etc
- Second Law of Thermodynamics
- energy goes on a one-way trip
- Matter, including the chemical building blocks of life, cycles around the biosphere
- Law of Conservation of Mass
Energy from the sun flows through food webs
Global change can impact any level of energy flow
Energy flow and efficiency is partially temperature dependent!
Projected decrease in transfer efficiency is expected to lead to a 21.3% decrease in abundance of predators in marine ecosystems
Energy and matter movement are goverened by global cycles
WATER
Global change will alter most parts of the water cycle
Energy and matter movement are goverened by global cycles
NITROGEN
Why care about Nitrogen?
Nitrogen is one of the fundamental building blocks for life on Earth, especially plants
- Nitrogen is the limiting factor in how productive plant growth can be
- via chlorophyll and Rubisco (15%)
- producers at bottom of food webs
- human food security
- Nitrogen is a primary ingredient in fertilizers
Global change will alter most parts of the nitrogen cycle
Not all the nutrients in fertilizers get absorbed by plants and the excess moves its way into rivers, lakes, oceans and groundwater as agricultural runoff
Got Nitrate?
Energy and matter movement are goverened by global cycles
CARBON
Energy and matter movement are goverened by global cycles
CARBON
Why care about carbon?
Carbon is in carbon dioxide, which is a greenhouse gas that works to trap heat close to Earth
- Carbon is stored deep earth, plants and oceans for potentially long time scales
- keeps carbon out of atmosphere
- Humans are (1) removing carbon from storage pools and (2) preventing carbon from entering storage pools
- adds carbon to atmophere
Carbon footprint is used as shorthand for the amount of carbon being emitted by an activity or organization
Global change will alter most parts of the carbon cycle
Energy and matter movement are goverened by global cycles
Global change alters these cycles too
Why does global biogeochemistry matter?
Biochemical cycles interact to regulate the biosphere, including climate →
Why does global biogeochemistry matter?
Biochemical cycles interact to regulate the biosphere, including climate →
Biogeochemistry is a foundation of biomes: living things adapted to a specific regions →
Ecosystems are the interactions with the biotic and abiotic within those regions
Biogeochemical provinces in oceans shift…
Biogeochemical provinces are dynamic entities that change their spatial extent and position with climate and are expected to be perturbated in the near future by global change
Are foundationals of biomes changing?
Does shifts in large scale systems impact humans?
